By Mark D. Faries, Ph.D. on Sunday, 13 April 2014
Category: Nutrition

Nibblers, Gorgers, and Weight Loss

Are you a "nibbler" or a "gorger"? Online reports are popping up, again, regarding a new study that challenges the notion that frequent, small meals is better than less, larger meals per day for weight loss. For example, Women's Health reposted a recent Time.com article, which states, "don't believe the hype, dieters. Eating five meals a day won't make you any skinnier, a new study shows."

Actually, this new study is nothing new, but there is a catch, that most people completely miss with this myth.

Background

Traditionally, most people think that eating several, smaller meals per day will boost your metabolism, and to a degree it is true. During and right after eating we get a slight boost in metabolism, called the 'thermic effect of food' (TEF). In other words, TEF is the energy expenditure (measured in calories) that we expend while digesting, absorbing, and distributing nutrients of a meal. The TEF makes up about 10% of our total daily caloric expenditure, so the thought is, "eat more often, expend more calories".

In the early 1960's, Dr. Gwinup and colleagues noticed that many animals ingest small portions of food through a day (i.e. nibblers), while man tends to eat large meals, infrequenlty (i.e. gorgers). In addition, research up to that point had suggested that if a rat, a nibbler, is trained to eat his diet in one or two meals per day – obesity, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol develop.

What Does the Research Say?

So, in 1963, Dr. Gwinup and colleagues published the "Effect of nibbling versus gorging on serum lipids in man", and their findings suggested transitioning from 3 meals a day to nibbling, serum lipids decreased, but when frequency changed from 3 meals a day to gorging, there was a prompt increase in serum lipid levels.

Since this time, many studies have looked at the frequency of meal intake.

Here are some highlights:

Is There a Catch? YES

So, why is this potentially not a slam dunk, closed case?

BEHAVIOR!

Take-Home Message

So, the take-home message is that meal frequency can lead to both weight loss or or weight gain. We must use what works for us. If eating 7-8 times a day allows you to eat healthfully, then eat 7-8 times per day. If you eat more healthfully using 3 meals a day, then eat 3 meals a day.

The keys are to:

  1. Pay attention, on purpose, to what you eat  = self-monitor
  2. Eat with self-control
  3. Choose healthy options, thus controlling the quantity with the quality of the food.
    ** Remember, you would have to eat 21.5 cups of baby spinach to equal 1 Twinkie cake! Calories are the same (approximately 150 Calories), but are drastically different in their nutritional value.

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